How Does the Tathāgatagarbha Gradually Withdraw from the Rūpakāya at the Moment of Death?

The physical body is formed from the four great elements (earth, water, fire, wind) within the Tathagatagarbha. At the time of death, the seeds of the four great elements within the physical body are to disperse and return, no longer projecting outward. Only then can the physical body cease and no longer function. At the moment of death, the seeds of the four great elements decompose and disperse, resetting within the Tathagatagarbha. This process is not instantaneous; the duration required varies, depending on one's virtuous and unvirtuous karma. The decomposition of the four elements means the seeds of the four elements gradually withdraw from the physical body, its functions progressively diminish, and it gradually stiffens. This process is conventionally said to be the Tathagatagarbha withdrawing from the physical body, no longer sustaining it, causing the physical body to lose its vitality. In reality, it is not that the Tathagatagarbha withdraws or changes; rather, it is the physical body within the Tathagatagarbha that undergoes change.

The Tathagatagarbha is formless and without characteristics; no one can see the manner in which it enters or withdraws from the physical body. The seeds of the four great elements are likewise formless and without characteristics; no one can see the formation of the physical body by these seeds or their decomposition and withdrawal from it. One can only observe the changes in the physical body; from the changes in the physical body, one can infer the functional activity of the seeds and the functional role of the Tathagatagarbha. When the physical body is sustained by the Tathagatagarbha, it possesses life, warmth, and consciousness. Without the sustaining power of the Tathagatagarbha, there is no life, warmth, or consciousness. At the time of death, life gradually diminishes, the body's temperature gradually fades, the sensation becomes increasingly cold, increasingly stiff, the conscious mind gradually weakens and vanishes, the mind becomes increasingly dull and heavy until devoid of awareness and sensation, finally entering the intermediate state (bardo). The point where the Tathagatagarbha finally departs from the physical body is the point where the four elements finally decompose, the point where life finally ceases, the point where body temperature finally vanishes. This specific point determines the karmic path of rebirth in the next life. This is the point of the body's final decomposition. The higher up this point is, the more virtuous the karmic path of the next rebirth; conversely, the lower it is, the more unvirtuous the karmic path.

The dharmas (phenomena) that sentient beings cannot see are true; the dharmas they see are false. Perceiving the false but not the true is called ignorance (avidya). If one can constantly and everywhere perceive the true, then there is no such thing as worldly affairs; everything is empty, not a single dharma can be grasped as real. The world itself ceases to exist, the mind fully returns to its self-nature, endowed with wisdom; this is called wisdom (prajna). Wisdom transcends emotion; where there is emotion, there is no wisdom.